BattleBots IQ Parts Manufacturing Partnership

At a Glance

Students in the machining program at Indiana County Technology Center collaborated with local high school students to manufacture parts for a BattleBots IQ program.

Overview

For several years, one of Indiana County Technology Center’s (ICTC) sending high schools sponsored a student BattleBots IQ team. BattleBots IQ is robotics education program that is a spinoff from the popular BattleBots television show. Students build remote-controlled combat type robots and compete against other teams to see which team has designed and built the best product.

The sending school struggled with funding the program due to the expense of purchasing the raw materials to make parts and then contracting out to have the parts manufactured. Recognizing an opportunity to collaborate, ICTC administrators formed a partnership with the sending school where ICTC students would fabricate the BattleBots parts at no cost.

This project reduced the cost for the sending high school and exposed the ICTC students to “real-world” drawings and manufacturing. The drawings for BattleBots parts were completed by students at the high school and emailed to the machining instructor. ICTC machining students helped with concept development by reviewing the blueprints and providing suggestions on how to improve the design. Once the final design was approved, ICTC machining students fabricated the parts according to the blueprints, using raw materials purchased and provided by the sending high school.

The BattleBots IQ team from the high school visited ICTC and interacted with the machining students. They were able to learn about safety and to see firsthand how their parts were manufactured.

Origin / Implementation

This collaboration began in 2014. Production and design activities took place during the 2014-15 school year.

Results / Impact

Unfortunately, the sending high school’s BattleBots IQ program was eliminated in 2015 due to funding cuts so the partnership was discontinued. However, the collaboration provided good publicity for ICTC’s machining program and enabled the machining students to work on a practical, “real-world” project. In addition, through the project the machining instructor made a connection with a local industry partner. That partner has donated a 3D printer to the program and invites students to spend a day in their manufacturing shop.